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Measuring & Mapping

Where, how far, and how much? People have invented an astonishing array of devices to answer seemingly simple questions like these. Measuring and mapping objects in the Museum's collections include the instruments of the famous—Thomas Jefferson's thermometer and a pocket compass used by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition across the American West. A timing device was part of the pioneering motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge in the late 1800s. Time measurement is represented in clocks from simple sundials to precise chronometers for mapping, surveying, and finding longitude. Everyday objects tell part of the story, too, from tape measures and electrical meters to more than 300 scales to measure food and drink. Maps of many kinds fill out the collections, from railroad surveys to star charts.

This Instrument consists of a refracting telescope surmounted by a round mirror that can reflect a beam of light along the optical axis of the telescope. A screw base allows it to be attached to any tree or post. Fauth advertised a heliostat of this sort in 1877, describing it "As made by us for the United States Coast Survey." This example was made before 1887 when G. N. Saegmuller began putting serial numbers on Fauth instruments. New, it cost $30. The U. S. Geological Survey was established in 1879, and transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1907. The signature reads "FAUTH & CO. WASHN D.C." and "U.S.G.S. No 6."

G. N. Saegmuller described this as a "Four inch Theodolite, As furnished to the U. S. Government Surveys," and priced it at $300. This example was made after 1887 when Saegmuller began putting serial numbers on Fauth instruments, and before 1905 when Fauth & Co. went out of business. The U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1929. The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, and read, with opposite verniers and magnifiers, to 30 seconds. The signature reads "FAUTH & CO. WASHN D.C. No 966" and "U.S.C.&G.S. No. 160."

This 8–inch theodolite "especially adapted for triangulation" was made between 1887, when Saegmuller began putting serial numbers on Fauth instruments, and 1905, when Fauth & Co. went out of business. It is marked "FAUTH & CO. WASHN D.C. No 1993." The edge of the horizontal circle is beveled, graduated, and read by opposite micrometer microscopes to single seconds. It belonged to the University of Missouri at Columbia. New, it cost $450.

The U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Precise Level "is constructed without regard to cost, extreme accuracy being the governing consideration. This fact accounts for the seemingly high price, which is for the complete instrument, with two achromatic eye–pieces, graduated and chambered level–vial having a value of 2 seconds per division. Completed packed, with extra heavy tripod...$300." Thus wrote G. N. Saegmuller, proprietor of Fauth & Co., describing the Precise Level that had been developed by E. G. Fischer and his colleagues in the Instrument Division of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. This example, marked "FAUTH & CO. WASHN. D.C. 2239" was made between 1900, when the form was introduced, and 1905, when Fauth went out of business. It belonged to the University of Missouri at Columbia.

To minimize changes due to temperature variation, Fischer's team developed an iron–nickel alloy with a very low coefficient of expansion. They also placed the telescope tube within a slightly larger tube, and sealed the openings between the tubes with chamois leather collars. To minimize disruptions caused by changes in weight or pressure upon the ground, Fischer's team mounted the level above the telescope. A mirror, mounted above the level, reflects an image of the bubble into a tube at the left side of the telescope. Thus, while the surveyor's right eye looks through the telescope to the distant rod, his/her left eye can see both ends of the level vial.

The Fischer level was Fauth's third precise level. The first was similar to the instrument that Kern had shown at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia. The second, unveiled in 1879, was based on a design originating in Vienna, Austria, and developed in the Instrument Shop of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which was then under Saegmuller's direction.

Ref: E. G. Fischer, "Description of Precise Levels Nos. 7 and 8," Report of the Director of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (1900), Appendix 6.

Marked "Fauth & Co. Washn D.C.," this seems to be a smaller and somewhat simpler version of the Altitude–Azimuth instrument that Fauth & Co. showed at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and featured in many of their publications. It was made between 1874 when Fauth began in business, and 1887 when Saegmuller began putting serial numbers on Fauth instruments. It belonged to the School of Mines, the program in science and engineering at Columbia College (now University). The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, graduated to 10 minutes of arc, and read by micrometer microscopes to single minutes. An advertisement for this particular instrument has not been found. A similar instrument—with 10 inch horizontal circle read by 3 microscopes, and 18 inch telescope—cost $850.

This theodolite magnetometer is based on the design that the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey developed in 1892-1893. It is similar in many ways to the instrument that the Survey had been using since the early 1880s, but with several new features. One is the octagonal shape of the collimating magnets. Another is the black velvet screen that connects the telescope with the suspension box: this cuts off stray light and eliminates the problems that had been caused by the glass window in the earlier form. It is marked "FAUTH & CO. WASHN D.C. 941" and "T.M.C.I. 1." The serial number suggests that it was made around 1895.

This instrument belonged to the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Internal records indicate that D.T.M. purchased it from Kolesch & Co. in New York in 1906 (for $175), sent it to Bausch, Lomb, Saegmuller Co. for repairs (another $120), and kept it in service until 1919.

Ref: Edwin Smith, "Notes on Some Instruments Recently Made in the Instrument Division of the Coast and Geodetic Survey Office," Annual

Report of the Superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey for 1894, Appendix No. 8.

This compass is made of aluminum. The raised rim is graduated to 30 minutes, and numbered every 10 degrees from north and south. The southern half of the face has a clinometer scale, extending ± 90 degrees, and graduated to 30 minutes. The signature reads "FAUTH & CO. MATH. INST. MAKERS WASH’N, D.C."

The compass belonged to the noted American geologist, Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927), and may be the one mentioned in his paper of 1888. Walcott had joined the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879, and became Director of that organization in 1894. In 1907 he was named Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. One inscription on the back of the compass reads: "C. D. WALCOTT U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WASHINGTON D.C. AUGUST 1894." Another reads: "SECRETARY SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 1907."

Ref.: C. D. Walcott, "A Simple Method of Measuring the Thickness of Inclined Strata," Proceedings of the United States National Museum (1888): 447-448.

William J. Peters of the U. S. Geological Survey devised this type of instrument in 1898, while doing reconnaissance work in Alaska. G. N. Saegmuller, proprietor of Fauth & Co., explained its function: "Having a fixed base of known dimensions defined by targets, the measurement is made by bringing the images of the targets together by moving the halved objective by means of a micrometer screw." The Geological Survey transferred this example to the Smithsonian in 1907, reporting that "Distances up to 1 or 2 miles can be determined with sufficient accuracy for reconnaissance work."

This is actually a composite instrument. The prism monocular was probably made by Bausch & Lomb in Rochester, N.Y., according to the design developed by Zeiss in Jena, Germany, while Saegmuller made the divided object glass micrometer. It is notably different from the stenometer that Saegmuller was offering in 1901, and so is probably an early prototype. The words "U.S.G.S. No. 4" are scratched onto its surface.

This small level was made between 1874, when Fauth & Co. began in business, and 1878, when the U. S. Coast Survey became the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Since no instrument of this type appears in the Fauth catalogs, it was probably a special-order item. The signature reads "FAUTH & CO. MATH. INST MAKERS. WASH'N D.C." and "U.S.C.S. No. 31."

Fauth advertised an instrument of this sort in 1883, describing it as "Pocket Heliotrope, Steinheils, a beautiful instrument that requires no adjustment." The reference is to the German physicist, Karl August Steinheil, who introduced the form in 1844.

This example is marked “FAUTH & CO. WASHN D.C. 2493" and "238" and "C.&G.S. NO. 418.” It belonged to the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. New, with case, it cost $20. It was made after 1887 when G. N. Saegmuller began putting serial numbers on Fauth instruments, and before Saegmuller's move to Rochester in 1905.